A Jewish heritage museum has accused Google of profiting from Holocaust denial because it is paying to prevent a neo-Nazi website from appearing as the top result for “did the Holocaust happen”.

The marketing director of the Breman Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, said it was “nauseating” that Google directed users to the white supremacist site, and added that it was paying Google up to $2 a click to direct searchers to its own site via AdWords, Google’s pay-per-click advertising service.

David Schendowich said it was nonsense for Google to claim that it was not profiting from Holocaust denial. “They may not take money from people denying the Holocaust, but the point is that museums and other organisations are paying to combat this stuff. They plainly are. We are. We’re paying them up to $2 a click.”

He declined to say how much the museum paid to Google but said search engine optimisation (SEO) and AdWords were a key part – and cost – of its marketing strategy.
The director of the Breman Museum, Aaron Berger, said that according to the Southern Law Poverty Center, Atlanta was the fourth worst state in the US for active hate groups and using AdWords was an “incredibly important part of our approach in getting our site up the search results”.

A Google spokesman said last week: “We never want to make money from searches for Holocaust denial and we don’t allow regular advertising on those terms.”
The Observer paid Google to take out advertisements pointing to the Wikipedia entry on the Holocaust for a number of Holocaust searches, spending £550 in just over two days. On Monday, Google offered to refund the money. The Observer declined the offer.